Insee Analyses · June 2023 · n° 85

More digital illiteracy in territories away from cities and small urban centres

In 2019, 16% of people aged 15 or over and living in metropolitan France did not use the Internet in the last 12 months or have not basic digital skills. These people are digital illiterate. They are mostly older, less educated and less socially advantaged.

People living farthest from cities and those in small urban centres are more affected by digital illiteracy (22% and 24% respectively) than those in larger cities (13%). Moreover, people living in territories under the influence of large urban centres use the Internet much more frequently.

Through an econometric model, the risk of digital illiteracy can be calculated at the communities of municipalities level : with a younger and more educated population, those with a regional capital are less exposed.

At regional level, the modelled digital illiteracy rate is highest in Normandie, Bourgogne-Franche-Comté and Centre-Val de Loire and lowest in Île-de-France and Pays de la Loire.